MLS has attracted a new generation of stars. But will they stay?

FFor most of the league’s existence, high-profile players in MLS have tended to fit into one of two categories: young players, domestic or foreign, who are developed in-house, and established stars who move to the United States have moved to wind down their careers. careers.

Looking at the most consistent and high-performing players in MLS over the past few seasons, however, a third class of import players emerges: a group of mid-level stars who have moved to North America with the aim of reviving stalled careers to give.

Riqui Puig was one of the jewels of Barcelona’s La Masia academy but struggled to break into the first team at Camp Nou. The 24-year-old is now flourishing with LA Galaxy, with seven goals and four assists in the MLS this season. Scottish attacking midfielder Ryan Gauld made waves as a youngster at Sporting CP, but after a series of quiet loan moves, the 27-year-old is finally fulfilling his potential with the Vancouver Whitecaps, where he has been a revelation since joining the club. club in 2021.

It’s a similar story for New England Revolution’s Carles Gil, who struggled to live up to expectations at Aston Villa in the Premier League. The 30-year-old has been one of the best forwards in MLS over the past five seasons. The likes of former Germany Under-21 standout Hany Mukhtar with Nashville SC, Columbus Crew’s Cucho Hernandez and Austin FC’s Sebastian Driussi have followed a similar path to MLS stardom.

One of the reasons given for the growth of this burgeoning import category is that until recently, such players were not considering a move into North America. But thanks to advances in infrastructure and the growth of the sport among American audiences, MLS franchises can now provide a comprehensive soccer environment similar to that of the European clubs to which these players may have previously been more attracted.

“We have a competition and on-field product that is now strongly entrenched and attractive to both young prospects and mid-career senior professionals,” said Neil McGuinness, director of player scouting and recruitment at Columbus Crew, “which has opened up the market made so much more open and diverse than in the 1990s.”

Lucy Rushton, former general manager of DC United, agrees. “The stadiums and training facilities these clubs have are second to none,” she says. “What we have now in MLS – and what we probably didn’t have seven years ago – is that we can provide players with incredible facilities, great support staff and an environment in which they can grow and develop. This is fundamental for every player. That immediately made MLS more attractive to people.”

Furthermore, the growing popularity of the sport, combined with the MLS’s Designated Player rule – which allows clubs to exceed the salary cap to offer higher wages to a selected player – means that potential transfer targets can be lured to the league with a financial package and a level of future fame that could previously only be achieved in Europe.

“The DP contract is a huge selling point for MLS clubs for any player,” Rushton said. “And the club can pay them whatever they want. The ability to earn good money is high. They might not make that kind of money in Europe. It’s a big draw for a player. Clubs say: ‘You will be our big player. We are going to brand our club around you. You will be the face of the club.’

“More and more players at that stage of their career want to come to MLS. They see other players go there and become the stars that they are. The league is becoming more and more attractive to that player pool, while five or ten years ago those players would not have even thought about MLS for a second.”

And it’s a two-way street. These increasingly accessible mid-career stars are as attractive to MLS clubs as the league is to them. They represent a safer method of acquiring a star-level player than the hit-and-miss process of youth development, while also offering greater longevity and upside than the late-career megastars of recent years.

“We’re at a stage now within MLS where it’s competitive across the board and every team is looking to get the best possible players they can recruit,” McGuinness said. “So from a branding or resale point of view that would be secondary to getting players who you think can improve the level of your squad, regardless of their position or age.”

Rushton cites players at newer MLS franchises as an example. “If you look at Driussi in Austin or Mukhtar in Nashville, these guys have become absolute superstars for their club,” Rushton says. ‘And there are now clubs that want to pay a lot of money for those players. MLS as a model has definitely gone away from the whole “retirement league” slogan it had a few years ago. There was a real culture change among clubs in MLS to try to do that. The competition goes further than that. Messi came here and was absolutely phenomenal, but Messi is Messi. If you look further, the league as a whole has moved away from that older breed of player.

“If they come here, reinvent themselves and then get sold back to Europe, all these other players will see that as a mechanism for themselves to do it, so it encourages future players to do it.”

But therein lies the impending dilemma for MLS clubs. Just as the league wants to move away from its reputation as a “retirement home,” it also doesn’t want to be seen solely as a springboard for this growing group of mid-career stars.

“MLS is now in a place where we want to keep the best players,” Rushton said. “I’m not sure if these players are now actively looking abroad or if their clubs are actively looking to sell them. We want to keep the best players in the league because we want to grow MLS. There is a desire among clubs and General Managers to work collectively to improve the competition and ensure it continues to grow.”

This new breed of import has the potential to be a sustainable source for American soccer in the search for star players. The success that players like Gauld, Puig, Driussi and Co have enjoyed since arriving in MLS is testament to the league’s rising playing and infrastructure standards and the ambition of the clubs. Luring them across the Atlantic Ocean, however, was step one. Holding it is the next frontier.